WAVERLY HOUSE, MARGATE. When dreaming big happens. #NOW CLOSED SEPTEMBER 2023!

This is a review without actually eating the food or stepping through the door, everything is based on what they have available online and what I've heard people say. So it's a kind of word on the street review, food reviews are a bit naff anyway...I think mine are way better, well that's what I think 😉

Today I'm talking about Waverly House Margate. 

Let's start at the beginning, just before Waverly House was a glint in the milkman's eye, a time when things were...smaller...

If you have ever thought of having your own little bistro then this might spur you on to take the leap because it's a cracking success story. 

This is a dream for everyone wanting their first restaurant: find somewhere small, maybe a bit quirky but usable, near enough to the action without it costing the earth to rent, create some stunning dishes and open your doors. Hopefully people like it and you will live happily ever after making other people happy.

This is exactly what they did..... Introducing The New Street Bistro.

The New Street Bistro opened in 2019. Nothing about it was supposed to work though. 

If you had a wish list for a restaurant premises, this ticked almost none of the boxes that you would typically look for. 

It's in the wrong part of town for a start, the old town is but a stone's throw away, but you would think you need to be in it to win it in Margate? It's up a little narrow side street with a jumble/antique shop as neighbours, straight onto a road without a pavement overlooking the back side of a car park, so it's a grim outlook. Barely any passing trade and a question mark over disposable income for people that lived around it. 

It was tiny with only 16 covers which isn't really enough, it needed loads of work to get it operational. But..

That all said, it did tick one box. The box for it's cheap and we can make it work.

To make this work you have to bring people to you. 

They offered a small menu, a couple of starters, maybed 3-5 mains and a couple of puds. The menu was a crowd pleaser. Despite limited choice there was something for everyone, and they were excellent quality dishes. The word got out, and the little intimate Bistro proved the nay sayers wrong, their success is testament to  the law of attraction. Now lunch and evenings saw full seats and people returned because they loved it.

Hmmm now what? 

You're gonna need a bigger boat!

Introducing "The bigger boat"

Did you know the phrase "Go big or go home" originated from an advert by a motor bike spares supplier in the USA. Not a lot of people know that...

But what I know is that to go from The New Street Bistro to the Waverly House brings a whole new meaning go big or go home because this is as big as it gets in scaling up a business.

It wasn't Waverly house then, it was just another vacant place on Margates High Street.

Waverly House has been many things over the years. It is one of the oldest buildings remaining in Margate, but in its recent years it was a pub called The Waverly to recognise the paddle steamer "The Waverly" which ferried Londoners to Margate, and then it was Morgan's which closed some 5 years ago. It stood empty for 4 years and buoyed with the success of The New Street Bistro they went for it.

This was a project on an epic scale. 

Everything would have needed to be done, not least a brand new fully equipped kitchen and restaurant space.

Arranged over split levels and enjoying an almost unequalled seaview from its terrace, it can now serve 40 covers inside, and 30 on the terrace.

Above are stunning holiday let apartments and below is a large function area. I will stick my neck out and assume the apartments are all owned and part of Waverly House and if that's so this is now a multi faceted machine for making money. Without even researching I am willing to bet that the passive income from the apartments is enough to sustain the building even if they didn't open the kitchen. If accurate that's a great relief for any food serving business.

The function and events space...

The ability to cater for different markets at the same time is a massive advantage. No longer reliant on table bookings they can cater for 50 seated or 100 standing and for your special occasion, you will know you are in very capable hands. 

Waverly House is the gamble that paid off, but from a business point of view you can see why it was worth the risk.

But some people do say it's lost that attraction which they loved about The New Street Bistro....

It is fair to say that Waverly House is not The New Street Bistro 2.0. How could it be? 

But true to form they make some bloody good looking food with the elegance and flair of an artist's brush, each dish a portrait, no wonder why its social media is awash with food porn.

But their social media has caught my ever watchful eye, a curious special offer they run on Mondays.

It's a £10 Sunday lunch deal..but on a Monday, which must mean they didn't sell enough on Sunday, so if not enough people came in to eat Sunday, what hope is there for Monday? If that's the case then what's happened to their Sunday people anyway?

Nothing wrong with minimising waste at all and one would assume they have prepped enough to not disappoint on a Sunday as there is nothing worse than looking forward to a spanking Sunday lunch only to be told it's all gone. I will revisit this offer further down the review, but first..

So let's turn our attention to the Ala Carte menu from their website today. Their social media (which is excellent by the way) shows they continually try new things, seasonal and inspired cookery at it's best. I like that a lot.

They say everything you need to know about a restaurant is revealed in the font used on the menu. I don't who said that, I don't think it was that same people that came up with go big or go home though, the font size is tiny, let's hope the portion sizes aren't!

It's a smartly structured menu isn't it? This is a headline grabbing gaggle of tasty treats. They have avoided the temptation to overload it with options, but can you see what's missing?

NO PUDS!

Whoa what does that mean? A quick scroll through social media reveal old menus which do, so is this a "thing" now?

I wonder....

It could of course mean they haven't uploaded the flip side of the menu, but if not then I have to venture this... 

Is the purposeful exclusion of desserts a clear recognition of changing attitudes to dining out? 

I am not saying this is a shock, horror, I will never get over this moment...

I don't know about you, but I won't be alone by saying that I am a starter and main diner, dessert is always a pass.

But if I am right in my hypothesis then this tells me they understand that their customers are not actually people that might expect to occupy a table beyond what they need to, but be simply delighted by the food and go?

This is not to take away from the dining experience mind you, but when you review the delicious sounding starts and see they are simple to assemble, light dishes... irresistible but essentially quick and easy (noting skill and flavour promised) So, easy to bang out, and the mains are all relatively easy to assemble too kinda plays to my theory, but I may be well off on that point, but a note worthy curiosity all the same.

Just like The New Street Bistro, the mains are a tick sheet of must haves for any restaurant. A Burger, Fish and Chips, Vegan option, Curry, Chicken dish, then there is the Achilles heel for carnivores with the Pork with irresistable crackling. (Well they just say crackling but good crackling is irresistible right? Well it should be, nothing worse than crackling which is hairy leather) 

It is a triumph for satisfying food and the dining experience with lazer beam focus on the dishes people want and making them lip smackingly irresistable!

The online reviews are fantastic. It's like they walk on water, but the word on the street is a little bit different to what people are saying online. I'm hearing people say it's a bit pricey for what it is, and on the face of it I can see why.

There is an invisible line that customers don't realise they won't cross until they've crossed it.. For many it is when they pay the bill. It's that uncomfortable feeling of ouch! Even if you delivered a superb plate of food then that ouch is tempered by satisfaction, but when the customer leaves and talks price, that satisfaction flips to a mere "it was nice, but expensive, won't rush back"

So let's review some of the dishes and see what direction a conversation might take after the event.

THE SCHNITZEL £18

Its a striking, dramatic example of simple brilliance? I reviewed The Polish Bistro in Ramsgate. It also serves a schnitzle, well they call it an escalope but it's the same gravy and bloody fantastic it was too, but where as Waverly House is presented on a trendy cracked glazed earthenware plate with eye popping purple slaw and a dollop of curried mayo, fries on the side. The Polish Bistro serve on a kitsch plate upon a doilie with a choice of potatoes (including fries) slaw, red cabbage So basically the same but a bigger meal if the truth be told.. if I said there was a 60% price difference you wouldnt believe me? The Polish Bistro £10.80, Waverly house £18.

AUBERGINE CURRY. £17

I could look anywhere for a comparable, however if I wanted 10 out of 10 curry you would not have to look too far. Just meters along the road also benefing from a sea facing position is Pan Asia, a large, modern, simply superb restaurant. It is always full as it serves the very best Thai food, and you can't beat an authentic curry right? Their veggie Currys are £10.50, Waverly House £17.

PORK BELLY AND CRACKLING. £23

It's all about the crackling isn't it. A bit of sauce, greenery and a couple of spuds. £23. Let that sink in.. hang on what's going on here? I know meat is expensive but this isn't a tomahawk steak is it? it's a cheap cut of pork. No place to hide on this one, it's got to be perfect for quality and expectation.

CAULIFLOWER STEAK £17

Now this is down right outrageous now. I know it's a thing now, slicing vegetables and calling them steaks, and I'm down with that however when you are charging beef steak prices for a slice of a vegetable then you know they have been seduced by the dark side of the force.

A whole cauliflower is no more than £1.50? Say you cut it how many times? Three? Let's go with three so 50p for the cauliflower, purée chickpeas.. humus in old money and some pickled onions and inedible black seeds Salt Bae style. Might be a vegans wet dream, but it's more revealing than a soggy sock!

SMOKED HASTINGS HADDOCK £22

Firstly this looks like a homage to Donald Trump's forehead and barnet! Secondly that Haddock has not been caught around Hastings, not a chance. At best it was caught hundreds of miles away, frozen and landed in Hastings. It's a bit like me saying I'm Dutch because I went there once. Love Amsterdam by the way, so chilled. A bit of creamed leek, boiled egg and some fries. Little bit of Salt Bae on the eggs.

BLACK BREAM £22

It does look pretty doesn't it? But a curious addition of another seafood dish with no credibility. Black Bream, not caught around here either...common in Cornwall though... We live on the coast, people travel from the inland to the coast to experience the fruit de mer of the region? Maybe I'm getting this wrong, maybe if I went to Cornwall I would be able to eat seafood caught off the Kent coast! My point, if it's not obvious enough is if you are going to have a fish dish at a coastal location then logic suggests the local fresh catch is the one to go for... There are fishing boats that land their catch in Margate, you can see them from the balcony!

I googled it, £10.50 a kg at the fish mongers (almost half the price of cod or haddock) a portion might be 200g after filleting so call that £3 of fish per portion, add all the other bits and I'm struggling to make that £4 on the plate, raw ingredients... That's X5.5 the cost price, a normal GP is X3... Salt Bae is back there in the kitchen, he must be! 

Just throw something else in for measure....

 same fillet, half the price.

I had no intention of being so picky before I wrote my review, I genuinely wanted to start by saying what an asset it is, how it is such an incredible success story. Then I thought I better give it some context with some comments on its current menu, and it all went tits from there.

There is something else though, let's balance the books and play fair. There's a bloody war on! A current affairs lesson is not where I'm going next, but the cost of everything has gone up. Food prices alone have gone up about 30% across the board, energy prices too. 

I have written an article on this issue of making a profit from food and I believe here we have a perfect illustration of what restaurants have to do to survive, and currently on a typical 3X mark up, they can't.. 

So this now brings me back to the first part of my review, the Monday Sunday lunch special. Funny enough I have written an article about that as well. There is nowhere to hide with a Sunday lunch. 

Everyone is an expert, we have spent years of graft in our own kitchens to know, but people will pay for quality. 

In my article I delve into the psychology of perceived value and look at examples. I came to the conclusion that a price point of around £15 a plate as being the sweet spot for a roast that's memorable and you will return for again and again. 

If you are at the £20 mark then you better be insanely incredible, anything over £20 is venturing into the quantum realm. This is where money is no object, where you pay for the je ne sais quoi because you don't care. 

The smart people are down the road getting the same or better meal for £15.

So I honestly don't know how much Waverly House charges for a Sunday lunch. I've seen a couple of pictures, it looks a decent effort. I have seen better and tasted better going on looks alone for well south of £20.. bitchy comment? granted. Would reference it but it's not in Thanet and I'm keeping it real 😉

I've read reviews, they are glowing...but the reason why they have enough left overs to get rid of on Monday is possibly because people are not coming to them for their Sunday lunch, people wanting a quality Sunday lunch are paying less elsewhere?

So, to conclude my review without eating or drinking a bit or a sip..I have another quote and to end with, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder which was originally written by a 19th century author under the pseudonym The Dutchess. The relevance is that The Waverly House creates some stunning and beautiful food, a feast for the eyes and for that skill and that dedication to excellence comes a cost. So you might find a comparable dish for less elsewhere or recoil at the price of a slice of a vegetable, but the experience of quality, skill, flavours and setting combine to make something truly satisfying, and to my eyes this makes Waverly House beautiful.

I can't wait to try it ❤️